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THE CONVERSION LOOP THE SIMPLICITY OF AUTOMATION
Now that we’ve covered the fundamentals on how to think about the online economy and how goods are promoted online, let’s explore converting visitors into buyers, in terms of the Conversions Loop methodology. To illustrate the conversions process, let’s take a look at conversions in terms of planning a glamorous party hosted to raise investment for a start-up company.
CELEBRATE
Let’s say you wanted to throw a party. The process of bringing people together for a celebration is a lot like the process of bringing traffic to your website and converting those casual visitors into customers – what we call the Conversion Loop. Whether we’re talking about a dinner party for a few friends or a grand fund-raising dinner, both involve a four-step process to bring people closer and closer to the goal you have in mind.
An ophthalmologist friend of mine organized an informal gathering at his home to tell his friends about an opportunity to invest in a technology start-up for doctors. Guests were greeted at the door of his elegant waterfront home by a Spanish guitarist to set the mood. A serving staff was busy in the kitchen, rolling-out a tantalizing stream of gourmet appetizers to accompany the fine wine served to guests. Mid-party, a group of executives gave an overview of the investment opportunity in the company, accompanied by the “call-to-action” of reviewing an investment prospectus. The process of putting together this fund-raiser party is no different than operating a Conversion Marketing campaign. A four-step formula for guiding people through a buying decision closely aligns with the process of planning a party. When it all comes together, everybody wins.
Step 1) The first thing to do when you throw a party is decide whom you want to come and send invitations. This is similar to identifying the Target audience for your marketing campaigns.
Step 2) Once you send out your invitations, the next step is to see who is interested and get their RSVP.
Step 3) As the date gets closer, you remind the people on your guest list how great your event will be, communicate directions and confirm that they’ll be there.
Step 4) Finally the day arrives and so do the folks you invited. Open the door and let them in. That list of people you started out with is converted into a roomful of guests, and everyone has a great time!
Here’s how that process looks in the online world, using the Conversion Loop method.
Conversion Loop Step 1 – Invitation
In the Conversion process, your Announcement Mechanism is like your party invitation. You have to decide on the type of people you want to attract to your website and speak to them in a way that gets their attention. You have to create interest. We live in an age of information overload, and never before have peoples’ lives been so hectic and complex.
Your invitation has to reach out to the people you care about, and it must uniquely capture their attention above the din of all the other things going on in their busy lives. This is true with your Announcement Mechanism as well.
In order to let people know about your goods and bring traffic to your site, you’ve got to let people know you have what they need. You have to excite their desire for your product. Here is a resource of 9 methods to create AWARENESS for your website:
1. Website Content – having a compelling and attractive website is a great way to attract visitors. Use of free content, relevant information, articles or great prices are excellent methods of attracting Visitors to your website. We will cover a few more ideas in Chapter 7.
2. Search Engine marketing strategy - this method can produce massive traffic if you are able to use keyword phrases that get your website listed in the top 10-20 listings on major search engines. Historically, the largest and most significant search engine in terms of traffic is Google, but this trend changes rapidly with the onset of hungry competitors. Also be on the lookout for search engines that are relevant to your industry as these may be more conducive to your success. Getting top placement of a certain keyword phrase is often quite difficult with keywords commonly searched like “real estate” or “new cars”. Massive traffic waits when you use keyword terms with low competition. What makes a website rank high in search listings tends to change dramatically month to month based on how the search engines determine which websites are relevant.
When I work with companies on website traffic, a keyword study is conducted called a Blue Ocean Index Study. This term was inspired by the book Blue Ocean Strategy which explores companies with business models designed to circumvent highly competitive marketplaces and establishing a beachhead in uncontested waters. When running a Blue Ocean Index Study, we look for unique and clever high-traffic keyword phrases that are currently being searched online, which have relatively low competition. CASE STUDY: A first-time author I work with, Dawn Jones, achieved the #1 Best Seller position on iTunes for her audiobook using this simple method for getting traffic using this keyword optimized title: The Top 7 Personality Challenges.
Public Relations - Public Relations is typically in the form of a newsworthy press release published on your website and posted to news outlets. Pubic Relations, often called PR, can be a very economical form of driving traffic, especially if your release is picked-up by a major news outlet, journal or magazine. A good press release will be timely, newsworthy and will contain links back to your website for more information. Publishers daily pick-up relevant press releases with breaking news on an industry and provide valuable exposure and traffic to your website.
One success story is from a professional speaker named Keith Harrell, who had an extraordinary PR experience. One day, Keith was contacted by a reporter writing a story on “A Day in the Life” of a professional speaker. The reporter contacted six speakers with a request to be interviewed. Keith was the only speaker who responded to her call, therefore the reporter ran a full-page article featuring one speaker, Keith Harrell. As it turns out, the reporter was working on this article for the Wall Street Journal. Through this one event, this speaker went from virtual obscurity to fame overnight, which led to his success with a New York Times best selling book and a multi-million dollar speaking business.
Media - Buying targeted media is an efficient method to drive traffic to your website, and is very popular with marketers. The key to large scale media buying is managing efficiencies. To make media buying profitable requires an excellent Branding strategy, great creative and a well thought through Conversion strategy. There are many forms of media including television, outdoor, print and paid placement. A few popular forms of online media are illustrated below, which often can be targeted effectively and measured efficiently:
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising – A company called Overture, which was purchased by Yahoo!, pioneered the PPC business. Companies like Google and Facebook have dominated this industry with their advertising inventory which allows amazing audience targeting capabilities. These advertising tools are helpful to small business and mega-advertisers alike. A pay-per-click ad only costs the advertiser when an individual clicks the ad and visits the advertiser’s website. It is a very efficient form of advertising because you only pay for people interested enough to click on your advertisement. The commercialization of this form of advertising has revolutionized the advertising industry as we know it, since even small advertisers can reach a global audience with their advertisements.
Ad Banners – online
